An (Almost) Confident People

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. As Amy said this morning already,

I am not the pastor at this church, so surprise

visitors. We are glad that you are here, but

you might not be getting our A game today. Try

again sometime. In my day job, I'm a teacher

at a local Christian school, and the drama production

that we did this year was Jane Austen's Sense

and Sensibility. If you are unfamiliar with the

plot of that story, let me tell you about it.

So the main characters are two sisters, the Dashwoods,

and they're in relatively difficult economic

circumstances because their dad just passed away.

Well, one of these sisters, Marianne, she falls

in love with a guy named Willoughby, who is charming

and romantic and quotes poetry. And as a guy

who myself quotes poetry sometimes, I think it

doesn't get much better than that. So Willoughby

has to go away to London for a while, and the

two sisters end up following him, in part as

a nice surprise, and they catch up with him at

one of these genteel parties that people apparently

had in Regency London, and they're announced.

The person at the door says, the sisters Willoughby,

or excuse me, the sisters Dashwood, or whatever.

So he knows that they're there, but he won't

come over and say hi. Willoughby. He won't even,

like, look in their direction. So they're standing

in the back saying, like, um, uh, what's this

guy doing, right? Marianne thinks that she's

engaged to this guy. So he's very intentionally

not interested in them at this party. So after

a little bit of this, Marianne, who was played

very ably by Lucy Hood in our production, she

says, good God, Willoughby, what is the meaning

of this? Have you not received my letters? Will

you not shake hands with me? And he awkwardly

says more or less, oh, hi, I did get your letters.

Bye, and leaves. He just leaves the party, right?

So it turns out Willoughby is a bad guy. He's

been sort of emotionally using Marianne, and

he doesn't want her encroaching on other more

financially profitable areas of his life. So

he pretty publicly rejects her. And the chapter

in the original, that is in Austin, ends with

this, quote, every circumstance seemed uniting

to heighten the misery of Marianne in a final

separation from Willoughby, in an immediate and

irreconcilable rupture with him. And if you know

the story, you'll know that Marianne will soon

go and stand in the rain. looking in the distance

at Willoughby's house, and she will get so sick

and feverish from this bad decision that she

almost dies. So what you can say is Willoughby's

rejection of her and her reaction to it almost

kills her. So that circumstance is fictional.

It's exaggerated. This emotional exaggeration

is part of Austin's point. It's called sense

and sensibility, right? She has two heightened

sensibilities. But like Marianne, we do experience

disastrous rejection sometimes, don't we? And

those rejections can be deeply painful. And they

don't have to be romantic. They can be social

more broadly. They can be professional, right?

They can be anything, really. And even the memory

of a rejection like this can bring on these intense

feelings of shame and failure, things that happened

years ago. You don't even want to remember them.

Consider some examples. Say you work at a job

faithfully for like 15 years and give it everything

you want, everything you've got, and then your

boss retires and you apply for that position

and the company gives the job to some other guy

and everybody forgets that you had seniority

and we just move on with our lives. Or, say,

You don't get into the school or the program

that you've applied to and set your heart on.

Or say, all your friends get together for a party

and you're not invited. So these are greater

or lesser degrees of rejection, but they all

kind of do the same thing to us internally, don't

they? Because what does the shame of rejection

say to you? As Henry Nowin, who is a... Psychologist

says, quote, as soon as someone accuses me or

criticizes me, as soon as I'm rejected, left

alone or abandoned, I find myself thinking, well,

that proves once again that I am a nobody. Like

Austin shows with Marianne Dashwood, that kind

of thing can make you feel hopeless. Like life

doesn't make sense anymore and maybe it'd be

better to just stop caring. So how does this

relate to our text today? Well, consider another

example. Say you have this years -long, beautiful

friendship with another person. You love this

person, and you think this other person loves

you, and then you run into that friend unexpectedly

after an absence, and that friend is so deep

in conversation with another person that he doesn't

even notice you. He just sort of shrugs you off.

Does that sound familiar? It might, because that's

literally the text of the Gospel we just read.

Consider, John, who is the author of the book

of John, was one of the disciples. He was one

of Jesus' closest companions. He had a beautiful

years -long friendship with Jesus, and then Jesus

goes and dies, and then he comes back. This is

a big deal. If you're unfamiliar with the plot

points here, ask somebody about this later. It's

something to think about. But when he comes back,

he has this long, memorable conversation, not

with John. but with a different guy, with Peter.

So Peter Rowan preached about this two weeks

ago and he did a great job. But the thing that

I can't stop thinking about when I read this

account is that the author of the story that

we are reading is John, not Peter. Church tradition

has always said that the phrase beloved disciple

is referring to the book's author. He refers

to himself that way in verses 7 and verses 20

of our chapter. And then again in verse 22, it

says, this is the disciple who's bearing witness

about these things. This is John who's telling

the story. So how John positions himself in the

story is fascinating. So Jesus has risen from

the dead. He shows up. This is everything John

has been hoping for. And Jesus doesn't talk to

him, to John. at all, personally. At least it's

not in the text. He talks to Peter instead, and

Peter, of all things, he brings John up. He wants

to get the attention off of himself, apparently,

and he sort of gestures over his shoulder at

John, and he says, uh, what about this guy? And

Jesus... This is not textual, but this is the

way that I picture it. Sometimes it says that

Jesus turns and views something. It says that

earlier with Peter. Peter... turns and sees John.

It doesn't say that about Jesus. So I picture

Jesus doesn't even look back at John, right?

He refers to John in the third person. It doesn't

say his name. He says, if it is my will that

he, he, him, that guy, if he remain until I come,

what is that to you? This is between you and

me, Peter. What's that do to John? Think about

it. This is the last chapter in the book that

John is writing. There's no softening of the

story after this. This could be an utterly crushing

experience for the author of this book. Jesus

kind of does a Willoughby, doesn't he? John desperately

wants to talk to him, and Jesus won't talk, right?

John could feel rejected, left alone, or abandoned.

He could allow himself to think, well, that proves

I'm a nobody, in no one's words. And in order

to turn up the intensity here, we're not just

talking about us having hurt feelings. as important

as that can really be. So if the same situation

happened with different people, it might be sad,

but it's not the end of the world. But, keep

in mind, this is Jesus that we're talking about.

Friends, if it turns out that Jesus doesn't like

us as much as we thought, as much as we hoped

that he did, that is actually the end of the

world. If Jesus doesn't like us, there's no other

court of appeals. There's no hope. We are, you

and me, the new kids at the school of the universe.

And if Jesus doesn't speak up for us and say,

hey, come over and sit at my table in the cafeteria

of creation, we will be sitting by ourselves

forever. And the Bible calls that the outer darkness,

where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So I'm phrasing this socially. rather than judicially,

but I hope you get the point that I'm making.

In fact, I think you could say earthly rejection,

the experience of earthly rejection may be so

powerful because it suggests eternal rejection

by the one who really matters. Remember, the

Lord himself says, I will say unto them, depart

from me, I never knew you. This is people who

thought they had confidence in Jesus. With that

in mind, how can we be easy or happy in our relationship

with Jesus? Well, let's follow John. So we have

good reason to believe right here in the text

that John lived a long time. So verse 23 says

that there was a rumor that the early church

going around the early church that John was never

going to die. This suggests he lived a whole

long time, right? We have other evidence to suggest

that the gospel of John was written significantly

after the other three synoptic gospels. So it's

entirely possible that John had to sit with this

exact question for a long time. How can he know

that he is beloved, right? If the last personal

experience he has with Jesus is that of Jesus

not speaking to him. Well, here's the thing he

is the one who decides to end the gospel message

with this particular story And he does it in

such a way that it looks bad for himself look

back at first 20 with me It says Peter turned

and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following

them stop right there He's following them That's

almost a pathetic sad note here Jesus goes and

he has this an intimate conversation with another

guy and John is just tagging along after them

like a little dog He's begging to be noticed,

and Jesus doesn't say anything to him. And so

this is a really bold move by John, or if you

think about it in larger terms, knowing that

the scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit,

this is a really bold move by God himself, because

John says he wrote this book, quote, that you

may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son

of God, and that by believing you may have life

in his name. That's just at the end of chapter

20. It's on the same page. So, John is telling

us, believe in Jesus, he's worth it. And then

he's simultaneously showing us how Jesus doesn't

pay attention to him, though he deeply desires

it. This is a strange recommendation letter.

So the question for me is this, why does John

write it this way? Why does he tell the story

with him as sort of left out in the cold while

Jesus talks to Peter? And I think the best answer

is this, John is utterly confident that Jesus

loves him. And because he is confident, he's

willing to tell the story in a way that might

look embarrassing for himself or even bad for

the Lord. Why? Because he trusts the Lord and

he knows that what he does is right and is loving,

even though it might not feel like it all the

time. So this is my sort of thesis statement.

Here it is. Friend, if you have confidence in

the love of Christ for you, you have all the

confidence you need. I'll say that one more time.

If you have confidence in the love of Christ

for you, you have all the confidence you need.

So let's break that down a little bit. I want

to look at how John had confidence and then how

our confidence can be like John's. So first,

John had confidence in Jesus's character generally.

John had confidence that he was beloved because

he was among the beloved. Look again at the beginning

of the chapter in verse four. It says, just as

day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet

the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, children, do you have any

fish? Let's stop there. Children. is what Jesus

says. If you're reading another version, particularly

the NIV, it might say friends. Friends, haven't

you? Any fish? I went and looked this up. In

Greek, the word is children. Some of the manuscripts

do say friends. But in any case, children or

friends, Jesus calls his disciples to himself

with this loving, intimate term. And what does

he do after he calls them? He provides for them.

He feeds them he instructs them how to get what

they're looking for and then he gives them what

they're looking for So I'm talking about fish

But I'm also talking about himself, right? That's

more what they need. He eats with them He shows

them his physical body which they had seen remember

mangled and dead just a couple of chapters ago

and Now it's up and moving and eating fish for

breakfast. He's showing them that death is not

the winner and John knows John remembers that

Jesus has said that he will never cast anyone

who comes to him away. John had written that

just in chapter 6. So John can think I'm anyone

who will come to Jesus. John can think I'm in

children, right? I am one of those that the Lord

has fed and isn't that where we find ourselves

here today? So brother or sister, unless you

are really extremely special, I do not think

the Lord is going to audibly speak to you. directly.

Right? And so you're just like John in that regard.

Jesus isn't speaking to him, he's not speaking

to us. Okay. But I think that you and I can have

the same type of confidence that John has here

because this is what happens week in and week

out here in this church. So Jesus, in the person

of his authorized representative, what does he

do? He calls us to himself. He calls us children.

He calls us friends. He teaches us. He provides

us with a meal. He shows us his body. We can

have the confidence that John has. We can know

that we are loved because Jesus calls his beloved

to him and we are among the people he has called.

But you might be saying, well, I believe that

God has called a church to himself, but I'm not

sure about his love individually for me. That's

sort of the Calvinist problem, isn't it? In a

nutshell, God loves some people, sure, but does

he love me? That's the problem it seems like

John could be dealing with here because Jesus

is showing his love directly to Peter and not

to himself. So I want to say that John knows

he is beloved. He has confidence because he has

in the past experienced Jesus's love individually.

He knows that being with Jesus has changed something

in him. This is usable history for him. So John

has had personal, intimate contact with the Lord

and he will not forget it when things get difficult.

So let's look back. I see this as sort of the

fulcrum of the story. Verse 20 says, Peter turned

and saw the disciple whom Jesus left following

them, the one who also had leaned back against

him during the supper. Let's stop there for a

second. I don't think there's any real plot connection

in this current situation with the Last Supper.

We don't need to remember, oh yeah, that was

John, that was the guy who leaned back against

him. So why does John bring it up now? I will

suggest to you that this detail is here because

it's so important to the author. John's experience

leaning on Jesus that night, being close to the

Lord, is what gives him the personal confidence

to know that Jesus loves him, even though he

is not directly experiencing that love in this

part of the book, in this part of the story.

Right? So it's because this is a metaphor, but

I think it's one that the text is pushing us

to think about. He has been close to the Lord's

heart. Because he's been close to the Lord, he

knows he can trust him. I said before that John

uses the phrase the beloved disciple for when

he speaks about himself. Can you guess where

the phrase is first used? It's in chapter 13,

which is the story of the Last Supper. Chapter

13 verse 23 says this, one of his disciples whom

Jesus loved, that's the first use of that phrase,

was reclining at the table at Jesus' side. This

being close to Jesus was a life -changing experience

for John. Being close to Jesus that night changed

who he is. It changed the way that he thought

about himself and his place in the world. So

he refers to himself as the beloved of the Lord

ever after. And I think he brings up that experience

here because I think here John was tempted to

be hurt by Jesus's seeming rejection of him and

needs to fortify himself by the memory of Jesus's

love that he experienced so personally, so clearly

back in chapter 13. And I think that the Lord,

so stick with me here, this is a little maybe

too bold, I think the Lord wanted him to feel

that apparent rejection. Why? So that John can

tell us that sometimes things are uncomfortable,

but we might still be the beloved of the Lord,

right? Sometimes it might feel like the Lord

is not with us, or is not paying attention to

us, or is not showing us the love that we need,

but we can remember that he has shown us his

love. that we are truly the beloved and we can

bank on that. Because Christian, you can know

the love of Christ. If you were once dead in

trespasses and sins and you have been changed

by the love of Christ, if you know that you are

a new creation because of your contact with the

risen Lord, that can be workable data for you.

That can be the grounds of your decision. That

can be the lens through which you view all new

experiences. and our temptations to feel otherwise

that the Lord doesn't love us, those are just

temptations. That's the story that sin is telling

us. The Lord has shown us His love in Christ,

and we can think of ourselves as His beloved

ever after us. Right? Jesus is big enough that

your personal comfort and satisfaction are not

always part of the current plan, but they are

part of the eternal plan. That's confidence.

So I've called the sermon in almost confident

people because I don't think I've got the same

degree of confidence that John had and I don't

know that most of us will get there in this life,

but We can start we can get close to the heart

of Christ in prayer in the study of the scriptures

in gathering at the Lord's table with the Lord's

people I Think we can know the love of Christ

that passes knowledge as Paul says in Romans,

we can have a mustard seed kind of confidence

in him and we can watch it grow as we trust him.

So I wanted to say that you can have confidence

that you are loved. So if you followed me to

this point, you might be asking, well, what does

that confidence look like in the world? I'm glad

you asked. Friend, we can be confident in the

face of mystery. One haunting thing about this

episode and with many of the stories of the resurrected

Christ is that the disciples don't recognize

him. Isn't that kind of weird? They've been with

this guy for a long time and then he shows up

and they don't recognize him. This is a repeated

thing in all of the gospel accounts. Look at

verse 14. It says, this was now the third time

that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after

he was raised from the dead. And yet, it says

in the beginning, they didn't recognize him.

They did not know that it was him. He's shown

up three times to them particularly. They still

don't recognize him. Why? Jesus is a mystery.

You can't tell what he's gonna do. You might

not even recognize him when he does show up,

right? And John and the other disciples are showing

us here that we don't have to understand what

God is doing in our lives all the time. In fact,

I would say if there's no element of mystery

in your faith, you probably don't have a biblical

faith. If your God can't surprise you, Your God

isn't big enough. Do you feel a CS Lewis quote

hovering on the horizon here? Well, I am happy

to deliver. Here it is. Of course he isn't safe,

but he's good. He's the King, I tell you. You

cannot control Jesus. You cannot direct or constrain

or anticipate him, but you can trust him. You

can know he's good. You can be close to his heart.

Next. This is sort of a related part of that,

right? You can be comfortable, you can be confident

even when you're not comfortable. How about that?

This is a strange, this is a strange episode,

right? The resurrected Christ is strange. He

doesn't fit in our world, right? So this is verse,

I should read my text here. This is verse 12.

Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.

Now, none of the disciples dared ask him, who

are you? They knew it was the Lord. This is strange.

Jesus feeds his people, come and have breakfast.

That's nice. That's not threatening. But then

look at this next part of the verse. None of

them dare to ask him, who are you? They knew

it was the Lord. They don't dare to ask him because

they knew. So you don't say they didn't dare

to ask if there's no element of uncomfortability

or fear, right? In Isaiah, that reading that

we did in the Revelation reading we did this

morning, the Lord says, do not fear. Why? Well,

because he's scary, right? He is holy. And when

we recognize his holiness and our unholiness,

we are properly in terror of him. But he knows

that we are dust. He will soothe our fears if

we come to him whoever will come to him. He will

never cast out So lastly if We can learn John's

confidence in Jesus we can be confident in our

role And that's the thing I think that follows

from this really strange situation in which John

is telling Peter's conversation. I Think what's

happening here is that because John knows himself

to be the beloved disciple He doesn't mind Peter

being the beloved disciple as well He doesn't

have to be the hero of the story. The attention

and the spotlight doesn't have to be on him.

He knows that Jesus is going to get praise, get

glory for his love for many, right? And he's

happy to tell Peter's experience of belovedness.

Okay. So. If we have this confidence, if we have

John's kind of confidence in the resurrected

Christ and his love, we don't have to elbow people

out of her way in our rush to God, right? We

don't have to pharisaically tear others down

so that we look better than them. Rather than

hating Peter and envying him, John gives praise

to God because Peter is also the beloved. And

when we get closer to knowing that we are truly

the beloved, I think we will rejoice in the belovedness

of others more as well. And we will know that

our heart is being changed to be more like the

merciful Christ when we do that. And by the way,

we'll also be becoming more like John himself.

So here's an interesting biographical snippet

about John that comes from the Church of Father

Jerome. Quote, when he, John, tarried at Ephesus

to extreme old age, and could only with difficulty

be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples,

and was unable to give utterance to many words.

He used to say no more at their several meetings

than this. Little children love one another.

At length, the disciples and fathers who were

there, wearied with hearing always the same words,

said, Master, why do you always say this? It

is the Lord's command. was his worthy reply.

And if this alone be done, it is enough. And

I'll just say this. Do you remember when Jesus

gave the new command that we love one another?

It was the Last Supper. It was the night that

John was leaning up against him. Friend, John

went to his grave saying what Jesus said to him

that night. The night that he learned that he

was the beloved. So I started with a story from

Jane Austen. I'll finish with a quote from her.

Her dad and her brother were Anglican pastors.

Her early biographer, who was also a pastor,

who was her nephew, said that there was no sincere

Christian than her, and she's a literary genius,

so she's qualified. Anyway, at the end of Northerner

Abbey, her early novel, she says that her intelligent

readers will know that we're all hastening together

toward perfect felicity. And friends, if you

have confidence in the love of Christ for you,

well, that is absolutely true. Let's pray. Oh

Lord God, you are good and your mercy endures

forever. We praise you for this text. We praise

you that John can know that he is the beloved.

We pray Lord that you will show us your goodness

and your glory and that we would respond as people

who are called by your name and who love your

purposes. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to Second City

Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has encouraged

you to worship God and to celebrate the gospel

of Jesus. Please consider subscribing to this

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Thanks again for listening. God bless.